Whenever you follow the contours of the Canal de la Robine starting at Les Halles towards the old city center you will automatically find a very old bridge which also used to be part of the Via Domitia. This so called Pont des Marchands (Merchant Bridge) is a historic bridge and serves as a foundation for a row of houses and shops underneath which the Canal de la Robine runs through the old town. The Romans started to built this bridge in the 1ste century BCI and its segmental arch has a span of circa 15 m and. The structur of the original Roman bridge featured as many as six arches.

Roman bridges, built by ancient Romans, were the first large and lasting bridges built. Their bridges were built with stone and had the arch as its basic structure of which the Pont des Marchants is a very good example. Most utilized concrete as well, which the Romans were the first to use for bridges. The Pont des Merchands crosses the canal in the center of Narbonne, but it used to cross the river Aude before that river changed its bed. It is a so-called living bridge, with houses and shops on top of it. Therefore, if you walk over the bridge you probably don´t even notice you are on a bridge.